It depends on your history. If you have been doing structured training for a while then improvements will be small - and you still got almost a 1.5% increase…at least it didn’t go down. If you have only been doing TR a short time then just keep at it. I went from 236W FTP to 280W last winter using SSBHV/SPBMV. This year I have done SSBMV (plus some extra aerobic stuff as I have a little extra time this year but not enough for HV) - about half way through SPB - my FTP has gone from 289W (end of the time trial season) to 298W after the ramp test after SSB2. But that 9W needed a stack of over/unders/SS/VO2/ in SSB2. I only weigh 60.5kg so getting big power numbers is hard…I just keep doing it - CONSISTANCY is the key to endurance training - just keep doing it the gains will come eventually (unless your an old 51 year old git like me)
2007-Feb 2019: bursts of intense bike riding (summer etc; indoor using tv series and just duration, no structured).
Feb 2019-October 2019: systematic outdoor rides and indoor using Zwift. Started around 60KM, increased to 2x60km in a week and 1x 100-130km.
October-2019: SSB1 MV
Jan 2019: SSB2 MV
Now: start of SPBMV.
Yeah, it really makes me depressed. I track everything, do everything well: eat well, sleep well, keep my trainings same time at day. No gains. I mean, ok, it did not feel like “dying” during ramp, so SSB2 did do something, because at SSB1 I really felt like I couldn’t hold it. So at least VO2 is up some wat and rate of perceived mental exhaustion as well.
Are you seeing gains in other areas of riding? Ramp tests and FTP are not the only thing that makes you good at riding. Has repeatability gone up? Are 15 min intervals manageable now at a wattage that would have thrashed you before? Can you hold VO2 power longer? etc etc
So what made you stop? Maybe you just didn’t have the same motivation that you did on the previous test and you undertested. How did Lamark and Leconte feel at the end of SSBII? I knew I was going to see a bump because those two workouts were much more manageable than they should have been.
Depending on your grasp of how threshold should feel maybe you could manually bump it up? If not 209, what do you “feel” like your threshold is?
Just remember that you are in the base phase not build. You’re building your muscular endurance and aerobic base right now so you will be able to build ftp in the build phase. Sounds like you might have tested low on your past test also.
Would suggest doing your next ramp test for build and then seeing where you end up after the first block. If no improvement after part of build then something may be amiss
Thanks for the input. Yes, I can definitely see that SSB2 at the end felt really “easy”, even the hard workouts. Especially VO2 and threshold, like Lamark and Leconte. Repeatability also went up. VO2 intervals are easily managable. Threshold keeps being tough, but I think that is realtively difficult for me. SSB now feels like recover almost.
Perhaps I should re-test indeed after a good night of sleep and food and rehydration (just to make sure).
Certainly…the RAMP test should certainly feel like you are dying, when I do it you get that feeling that your looking through a tunnel as the world closes in around you…it should be an unconscious decision to stop when you can’t turn the pedals…nothing else and should feel like your about to …go on give it another go you know you want to
I second the person who reminded you that FTP is not the only thing, or even necessarily the most important thing (unless you’re a time trialist). That’s the beauty of cycling, as compared to something like distance running: there are so many different strategies / ways to be successful; so many phenotypes that can carve out a niche.
I would have expected an increase in FTP. I would also track your progress on longer duration intervals and how they feel. You might have made a lot of progress on improving muscular endurance–which is awesome.
As far as the ramp test goes, it should only really be truly difficult in the last 3-5 or so minutes. I always hit or set max HR after doing the ramp test.
If Leconte was easy you should expect an FTP bump. It sounds to me that you don’t yet have your Ramp Test pain threshold dialed yet. If you aren’t hitting your max heart rate or close to it, you gave up too soon. It does take some practice to be able to tolerate that kind of discomfort.
That’s exactly how I felt before my last ramp test, and I saw a huge gain on the test.
Yeah I stopped myself, not until something in me stopped me,
Yeah I wonder if you mentally weren’t fully committed. When you ramp test, there are lots of moments where you think, “Shit, this is HARD, I should stop.” The test only really works when you keep going until your body chooses to stop for you. As long as you hit the watts properly (no sprinting,) just keep carrying on.
It may also help to understand how the Ramp works. It may be kind of a mind trick, but knowing that the break even point is 19:30 and that you get x watts for every y seconds beyond that makes it much easier for me to visualize the effort required to get a good result.
Oh i game this system sooooo hard. Even to the point that the super motivational music comes on at 16min and it’s a 4:13min song so i know to just put my head down and go until the world goes black
That’s actually a good increase. FTP isn’t a be all and all. You have most likely improved other areas of your fitness since you started your TR training. You WILL make FTP improvements as well if you stick to it after build phase.
Someone who hasn’t trained much or took a 2-3 week break before starting TR will see significant improvements after SSBI. If you have already been training regularly, you can even see a drop.
…go on give it another go you know you want to 
